2011 Senior Dinner Article

2011 Senior Dinner Reflections and Traditions

December 29, 2011

Another Senior Dinner is over. This year, the number of attendees was smaller, since it’s a Christmas holiday, due to family commitments, non-the less, just as fun as before. This year, a new change was added to the “requirements” for those who attended. For those uninitiated, the requirements to be invited to the dinner have been, “must have been in the Sunset Table Tennis Club Junior Training Program, graduated from high school on to college or into the working world”, “and may bring one guest”, usually their significant other. The attendees this year was, in chronological order, Professor Suguru Araki (coach), Patricia Hocke (now Torres), Johnson Lee and wife Sylvia, John Springer and Stephanie, Wallace Liu, Annie Liu, Minh-Chau Nguyen (host) and James, Minh-Thanh Nguyen, Derrick Poon, Katie Poon, Peter Young and newcomer Sylvan Guo.

The new requirement is the introduction of a fee for the dinner. During last year’s Dinner, I discussed with some of my older seniors the idea of charging a fee for the first time and it’s purpose and reasoning, they all agreed. The new requirement is, “If you are still in college or unemployed, the dinner is free. For all others, $30 per person, check or cash payable to STTC (any other contributions accepted). The funds go to STTC junior’s program”.

Here are more details of the discussion, reason and story behind the new fee for future attendees.

The Senior Dinner started some 16 years ago when my first group of juniors who were 13 years old, graduated from high school four-five years later and went off to college in different parts of the country, came back for the Christmas and New Year holiday, called to catch-up on things so we thought a dinner would be a good venue for talks. It was, I think, just three or four of us at first; Mark Liu (1989 U.S. National Junior High School 2^nd place, 1990 1^st place), Kevin Zhang, Henry Ng and Lynn Truong (1989 U.S. Nationals Girl’s U-18 champion). Followed by Paticia Hocke (1990 National U-15 champion, 1992 U.S. Open Girls U-18 doubles champion), Eugen Yesin, Mary and Johnson Lee, Stacy lee, Jackie Lee (many times National and Junior Olympic champion) and her brother and sister Jonathan and Jeniffer, who started before Jackie, Peter Jajac, Diana Zlatina, Misha Kazantsev (U.S. Cadet, Junior and Men’s team member, U-18 National champion) and others I can’t remember. Other qualifiers came after we moved to Glen Park recreation center then to current St. Johns School; Kevin, Karen and Robert Phung, Minh-Chau and Minh-Than Nguyen, John and Rachel Springer, Derrick and Katie Poon, Stephanie and David Chow, Sylvan, Guo, Tomas Afflick and Sally Su.

At first, we went to a local Chinese restaurant but within next couple of years, as new crop of college students came back, some asked if they could bring their girlfriends or boyfriends to the dinner so the number of attendees grew, and the costs, and since I was footing the bill, I thought it would be prudent to cook and host at my house plus, it would be more intimate and not be constrained by restaurant closing time.

When my kitchen and dining room became too small to handle the numbers, I asked among the group if they had large enough space and time to host as a venue. I would still provide the supplies and cook, with the assistance of couple of female attendees (the males usually don’t do anything, as well as cleaning up). Last year was at Mary Lee’s, now Mrs. Lai, house in Fremont. This year, the host was the sisters Minh-Chau (soon to be Mrs. Dunhour) and Minh-Thanh Nguyen’s home in San Jose.

So last year, I thought about the future of the Senior Dinner and where it is going; among the issues, if it continues to grow, venue may have to change to a commercial site but the cost will rise substantially and the personality of the dinner may change. As for costs, I can but should I continue to foot the bill as the number and cost rises? Then I thought about what my club is about and how it came to be.

When I walked in to Sunset Recreation Center back in 1987 and met the gang of three, Mark, Kevin and Henry, playing on one damaged table in the corner of a basketball gym, and they ask me to teach them, it was for free. They and their families were not in position to pay coaching fees. They became very good, very fast and word got around and suddenly, there was a dozen on two tables, still no coaching fees, just contributions to pay for new tables and equipment. Coaching fee was charged only when private coaching was asked. 

As the club grew and moved to larger facilities, club membership fee was started to pay for more tables and equipment. While this was going on, many attained national titles and some national team members. During this time, I came up with the policy of “do for others what I did for you” as a means to teach values and responsibility; for those accomplished and experienced juniors who received coaching virtually for free or just nominal club fees, to give back to the program by helping new and inexperienced players in the club. My other evolving thoughts were that sports most important contribution is about personal growth, as many of you already heard often. Improve the character and he/she will be a better player in the end, and when the end comes, he/she will be better able to handle life off the court. Multiply this scenario by the millions and we’ll have a better community/society. Check this YouTube clip “A charitable Appeal: Please help the needy this holiday season…….” and you’ll get my drift; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_41-8Fsu68g&sns=em.

So, the Senior Dinner is not just a venue to party, catch-up and checkout who’s who and make future business/information connections, but also to reflect on the end, after table tennis, and see all that one accomplished and the potential for more, and that life is after-all, good, because of who and what one became.

My current top juniors are helping others by “doing for others…..” as others before them. I will continue to fund the dinner as you make it possible for me to paint my picture. Now it’s time for Senior Dinner members who benefited from the program to assist the new crop who “do for others…..”.

At this dinner, some contributed more than the new dinner fee. I appreciate the thought and I thank you in behalf of current STTC juniors.

Masaaki